In Willits, worry and uncertainty left behind in wake of federal pot record subpoena

When the federal grand jury subpoenaed records from Mendocino County related to its pot regulation program, it sent a chill through many in the Mendocino County marijuana subculture. Those who had tried to work with law enforcement are being told, "I told you so," by many on social media.

Whether the federal grand jury subpoena is meant to target the growers who complied with the sheriff's program, the program itself, those who administered the program, or whether it is just a peripheral request associated with a specific pending case, is unknown.

The U.S. Attorney's Office of Northern California has historically had a hand's-off approach to marijuana cultivation, seemingly ignoring the millions and by some estimates billions of dollars flowing through the county in marijuana proceeds during the past 10 years. While federal drug enforcement agents have raided several sites through the years-most recently one in Potter Valley at a grow site associated with Mendocino County Sheriff's Capt. Randy Johnson's family-few arrests have occurred.

Whether this new subpoena signals a change in tactics in the Northern California District, or just a continuation of the same apparent past policy of harassment without prosecution, is unknown.

The only Mendocino County federal arrests (other than the handful associated with the Full Court Press raid in 2011 in Mendocino National Forest-which resulted in one pot growing conviction) were initiated by U.S. Attorneys' offices outside of Northern California. The November arrests of Jeff Wall, John Paul McMillan, McMillan's wife Erin M. Keller, Henry McCusker and Richard W. Smith Jr. on the Mendocino Coast were initiated in Kansas. They are accused of one count of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute drugs. James Soderling of Fort Bragg and his wife, Sarah, were arrested in the same case in July.

In May, two Covelo pot growers were sentenced to five years in prison in a federal case originating in Virginia.

In November, Lynn Truong of Clovis was the last of six defendants to be sentenced in a federal case prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California. She and the other defendants pleaded guilty in a case involving mortgage fraud, grow houses in Clovis and a grow property on Pine Mountain near Willits.

The typical federal tactics in Mendocino County have been to raid, gather evidence and then do nothing. Sometimes asset forfeiture proceedings are initiated, such as occurred following the massive northern Mendocino County and southern Humboldt County raid in June 2008. The 2008 raid, dubbed the "Southern Sweep" involved an estimated army of 450 law enforcement personnel, serving 29 search warrants. The warrants came from a "two-year investigation targeting large marijuana cultivation and distribution."

If any arrests or convictions resulted from this massive raid, no information about them has ever been released by federal officials.

The feds employed similar tactics in a raid on the first collective farm registered with the Mendocino County sheriff's office. In July 2010, the DEA targeted the 99-pot plant collective farm owned by Joy Greenfield in Covelo. No arrests were made and the entire case remains under court seal.

Northstone Organics of Redwood Valley was raided in October 2011. Again the DEA refused to comment on the "ongoing investigation."

Sheriff Tom Allman hopes the records provided to the grand jury will help clarify the local situation.

"If we can get answers about our program that will be great," he said.